She sat in his office
Starting vacantly at the floor
Her words pouring out
“They’ll kill this thing,”
She said.
Meaning all she’d made
And loved.
“They’ll drain the life from it.
The life that made it
What it is.”
She turned her head dismissively, admitting,
“What it was.
It’s already dying.”
“And then we’ll leave.
One by one,
We’ll see the writing on the wall.”
She stared into the distance,
“The future,” she said,
Fragments of her thoughts
Spilling out.
“And what was the magic anyway
But the love we brought to this?”
“What will I do?” she wondered aloud
As her mind leapt ahead.
There was no way to make it all right.
“At times like this,” he thought,
There’s no bargain where you don’t lose.
There’s only moving on.”
He said,
“You know who the prettiest girl in the room is?
The one who doesn’t know she is.
Don’t worry,
You have plenty to offer any employer.
No don’t worry
But be prepared for this;
Eventually you won’t belong here anymore
And it’s you that will leave.
Think of relationships
It’s just the same.”
He knew her well enough to know
She’d get that.
Anyway,
He knew she’d be happier elsewhere
After she got over this.
She’d never be the nurse who,
Being good at her job because she cared
And touched lives,
Ended up as an administrator.
Hating it.
She knew the reason they had come together
Was done.
She wandered out
Absentmindedly
And left him sitting at his desk.
He’d made his decision months ago
She’d be following him
To points unknown.
“Just like relationships,”
He repeated to himself,
“There’s no bargain where you don’t lose.
There’s only moving on.”
